"We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose." - President Eisenhower, First Inaugural Address

Army Navy

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

The security device, set to be unveiled Wednesday, scans port waters and alerts authorities on land to any possible divers. A response boat then drops a second sonar below the surface for confirmation and sends back high-resolution images of the diver.

"Instead of alerting us to every sea lion, manatee or fish, this system will help us identify objects as a diver who just got lost or someone who intends on doing us harm," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Alan Tubbs. "To date the Coast Guard's law enforcement has been mostly above water. This is just another capability."

Update: Whoops! Published when I meant to save as a draft. Oh, well. This system seems better than nothing, but is very slow. Detect, investigate, analyze and then? Time consuming and I wonder how effective. My concern would be in areas of restricted visibility and limited operating area, such as the long, narrow ships channel and river areas (the Houston ship channel, Suisun Bay, the Mississippi, as examples. San Diego is not typical. Not that it's easy. I worked in this area for several years and we never hit on the ideal solution.

No comments:

Post a Comment

EagleSpeak

About EagleSpeak

The main focus of this blog is maritime security. Other matters may appear. I am a retired attorney and a retired Navy Reserve Captain (Surface Warfare). Opinions expressed herein are my own. Sometimes I have the experience to back them up. Your opinions may vary. Don't panic. Feel free to disagree, that's what free speech is all about.
Nothing contained herein should be confused as me giving legal advice to anyone. If you are confused, welcome to the club. All mistakes herein are my fault. I have sufficient academic credentials to be dangerous to myself and to others.
Comment moderation is at my discretion, so your comments may never appear. You can start your own blog for free and comment there all you want. I enjoy a healthy debate, but not arguing with trolls. If you can't comment without using intemperate language, go someplace else.
Under the header: BM2 Nicholas Ferris signals an AH-64 Apache helicopter from the U.S. Army 4-501st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion during deck landing qualifications aboard USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43). (U.S. Navy photo by MC3 Adam Austin/Released)